Ancestors, Pieces of the Soul

In science it's well known that our genes came from our ancestors, decreasing in percentage the farther back we go.  Physically, you have more in common with your father than your grandfather, and even less than his grandfather.  It has to do with the way dominant and recessive genes are passed on.  Some genes die out, depending on who your ancestors mated with.  Others get passed down for the same reason.

There may be a spiritual component as well.  In some of the African traditional religions, people believe that ancestors are part of the soul; that they are continuously reincarnated into the same family, moving down the line of history, experiencing each era with a new body.  Like genes, recent ancestors play a greater role than older ones, building pieces of the soul the same way genes do for a body.

This is an interesting concept that gives new meaning to people naming children after their parents or grandparents.  In western culture we generally don't consider our ancestors as being reincarnated in ourselves: only that we are made of their genetic components.  Perhaps by naming our children after them, we are realizing a spiritual connection to them on a subliminal level.  Conversely, these beliefs reflect a prediction that science eventually proved: that we are made out of pieces of our ancestry, if not in spirit, then at least in body.